The first of three election debates kicked off Saturday night with the team representing the People’s National Party (PNP) responding to a question on what programmes implemented by the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) it plans to scrap should it form Government.

The Rural School Bus System currently being implemented by the JLP-led Administration is one such programme that would be discontinued in its current form, says the PNP.

Responding to the question posed by journalist Natalie Campbell, the PNP’s Damion Crawford said productivity means that there is a balance between effectiveness and efficiency.

“Indeed, separation of students from adults and the organised contribution of carrying them to school is a wonderful concept; however, how they JLP intended to execute, I believe is highly inefficient,” Crawford said.

He argued that the cost of the buses imported from the United States of $300 million and $800 million for refurbishing them would indicate an “inefficient” use of resources.

Additionally, Crawford said new Toyota coaster buses would have been more appropriate for purchasing within the same cost.

According to him, the more than 100 buses would be inefficient to transport the approximately 440,000 children.

In his rebuttal, the JLP’s Pearnel Charles Jnr pointed out that the JLP is doing what the PNP cannot do.

“We want to keep our children safer, and we are using the $1 billion saving from the JUTC where we have cut theft of diseal…, to buy 110 new buses at $1.4 billion for our children. The parents will save $180,000 per year annually per child, and the children will be safer,” Charles Jnr asserted.

The JLP’s team consists of Charles Jnr, Matthew Samuda and Kamina Johnson Smith, while the PNP is represented by Crawford, Raymond Pryce and Sophia Frazer-Binns.

The social debate is being moderated by Television Jamaica’s (TVJ) Janella Precius, with questions being posed by Irie FM’s Natalie Campbell and TVJ’s Romardo Lyons.

Organised by the Jamaica Debates Commission (JDC), the clashes provide another opportunity for the two major political parties to sway undecided voters, days before the September 3 General Election.